... Republican Party insiders are actively looking for ways to derail their own party’s presidential frontrunner – a dynamic we have not seen in the modern era – and they appear to be failing rather spectacularly.

It’s tempting to see this poll as an outlier. After all, this poll not only shows Trump with more support than the rest of the field combined, and not only shows Trump with more than triple Rubio’s national backing, it also has Trump’s support reaching 49% – a level unseen in any national poll conducted this year by anyone, practically mocking the Beltway chatter about the candidate’s “ceiling.”

That doesn’t mean it’s wrong, though it does suggest some caution is in order. That said, if the CNN survey is even close to capturing current Republican attitudes, it would take an awful lot to derail Trump’s candidacy.

One of the more compelling concerns among Republicans worried about Donald Trump has to do with maturity: the New York developer just doesn’t have the temperament of an American president. Whatever his talents, Trump’s skill set doesn’t include displaying dignity and grace.

It was a little unsettling, then, to see what’s become of Marco Rubio’s pitch on the eve of Super Tuesday....

... all of this serves as a reminder about the scope of Trump’s victory. Whether or not he’s the Republican nominee, the current frontrunner has already managed to convince the cycle’s most competitive GOP candidates to follow his lead on issue positions, rhetoric, and even classlessness.